Not Necessarily, But Yes - Maui

Alright here is my last post about Hawaii, until I go there again in the future.  

After we stayed in Oahu - which you can read about here - we made our way over to Maui for a little over a week.  we stayed at a Condo, timeshare, deal called Maui Hill.  I would absolutely recommend condo life when you travel.  Having separate bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen make traveling that much better. 

One major city you have to visit in Maui is Lahaina.  It is a lovely town with great eating, shopping, and history.  

The banyan tree in Lahaina.

One of my favorite things about Maui was the food.  My favorite place to eat was Coconut's Fish Cafe. I do have have any picture of it because I forgot.  When your food comes out all you want to do is eat it.  Taking a picture would just be a waste of time. 

We also found some amazing places for dessert.  Some of my favs were Hula Cookie and Ice Cream and Aloha Ice Cream.

The only tour I took while I was there was the trip to the Road to Hana.  I had heard about this trip for years and it was worth taking.  It was a day full of beautiful scenes and random stories from our bus driver, Roy.  He was an old Hawaiian and told us all the stories of creation that the Hawaiians believed in.  It was interesting.  I love a good orign myth and I found the trip beautiful and fun. 

One of the stops on the Road to Hana.

Black sand beach on the journey.

The title of this blog comes from a bus driver on the road to Hana.  He was telling us about the local plants and he mentioned one called the angel's trumpet.  He said that it is called that because if you eat the flower you will be playing the trumpet with the angels.  Someone asked if you would die if you put one in your mouth.  Roy's response, "Not necessarily, but yes."

Angel's trumpet flower.

280 foot waterfall.

While i was there I would take a walk every night from my condo to walk to the beach and watch the sunset.  Not a bad way to spend an evening. 

On our last night in Maui, my mom and I also went on a "romantic" dinner cruise.  I just called it romantic because the advertisement only had couples on it.  It was a fun little journey and we had a lovely sunset. 

Sunset on a boat.

Clearly while you are there you have to eat a little bit of the local flavor.  These were my favorite chocolates on the island.  Who wouldn't want a Hello Kitty or Lilo and Stich candy box. 

love! Erica

Throwback Thursday - Throwback Birthday

This week's throwback Thursday comes with the theme of throwback birthday.

This week it was very easy for me to choose which birthday to talk about.  Before I do I think you need a little background on al things Erica's birthday.  First, my birthday is very close to Halloween.  Growing up we always had costume parties.  It was fun for 10 years then I got over it and was grumpy.  The end of the costume party.... until I was fourteen.  Second, The cake had to be ice cream and there had to be hearts on it.

8th Bday costume and slumber party in one.  I think this was when we were watching Jurassic Park.

Ice cream cake with hearts, my style.

One of the parties that was the most memorable for me was a joint party with my dear friend, Bernadette.  I am happy that we are still friends to this day.  The party just united us even more. 

Berna and I the summer before our epic party. Two years ago at our childhood friend, Amanda's, Bridal shower.

Our birthdays are 20 days apart and we decided to throw a big party together.  She was 15, I was 14.  in keeping with the costume party theme of my youth we thought it would be fun to throw a decades party.  People could come dressed in outfits from their favorite decade.  Super cool right? Even cooler... It was a dance party... at  my house!

Our awesome party invitation, we were so creative.

The house I grew up in was amazing.  It was on a huge hill and overlooked the forrest.  It was two stories but half of the top story was open.  You could look down stairs from upstairs. It was the perfect party house.  We even "hired" a friend's brother to be the dj which was a little funny because he only knew songs by the Beastie Boys.

There was a wide variety of people at the party; church friends, drama class friends, other friends, it made for some interesting drama.  My favorite was two friends who came together on a date.  No one knew they were dating and it was all anyone could talk about.  Me?  Well I wore my red party dress from the 80s I guess and danced the night away.

Dragging a friend on the dance floor.

Take from the second story, party on friends.

I loved this party and still have great memories of it today.   Thanks Bon for this great link up.

Oahu - The Gathering Place

I have been back from vacation for two days and I already miss it.  I was starting to take my time in Hawaii for granted.  Oh there will always be a beach right out side my room.  I can go for an evening stroll and watch the sun set over the ocean any time.  I can eat Hawaiian treats any day.  

Well it all ended and I want to go back.  I reckon getting this post and the one on Maui ready have not been helpful in the mourning process.  

While in Hawaii my mom and I stayed on two islands.  We started in Oahu and stayed at  the Waikiki and them moved over to Maui. Below are my favorite photos and experiences from Oahu.

First up at some pics by my hotel. We stayed at the Ashton on the Beach in Waikiki.  It was nice and I would stay there again. 

Typical day, beautiful scenery, laying by the pool, enjoying some island tunes.

Poolside sunset

Next up we went to a luau.  We went to one called Germaine's Luau.   It was in a beautiful location overlooking the ocean. The entertainment was great and fun.  I would reccommend this to anyone looking for a good luau in Oahu.

At the luau, so pretty.

 Next up a day at Sea Life Park.  I really love sea life and I was really excited to swim with the dolphins.  Well stand on a platform and let them kiss me.

I will say that Sea World should have a view of the ocean as you watch the shows.

Our last day in Oahu we sent to the Arizona Memorial site.  It was really touching to see the memorial and the museums about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  It is worth going to see.  It is good to mix history with vacation whenever you can. 

That same day we went to the The Polynesian Cultural Center. I have to say that this place was incredible and totally blew me away.  You have to go here if you go to Hawaii.

The Center is run by BYU Hawaii.  The students run tours of all the islands that are considered Polynesian.  They range from Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti and Hawaii.

Three words I would have never put together: Mormon, Polynesian, Entertainment.  I am not kidding you  they had this tour thing down.  I am convinced if Mitt Romney flew over enough swing voters he would have won the election.  Well that might backfire considering Obama is from Hawaii, but it could have worked. (I honestly have no opinion on politics)

Momma and me at the PCC

Plus they have delish shave ice.

love! Erica

Bachelorette Link Up #5

Well my friends I am back to reality.  I was in Hawaii for two weeks and I am happy to report that I was not burglarized.  Either that or they read my blog yesterday and returned everything.  Either way I am happy. You can read my good bye to Hawaii here.

One thing that I am happy to be back to was another episode of The Bachelorette.  So without further adu here is my recap of this weeks Bachelorette episode.

I have not been a fan of the fairytale spin the producers have given the series this year.  In case you missed it I break it down in my first episode recap.   Welp this week it took less than 30 seconds and we get the f word - fairytale.  Ugh.  I am just going to move on to the dates.

Chris Who?

First I have to say, who in the world is Chris? Maybe he was a big deal in the episode I missed this year.  But I just have no clue who this guy is.  Their date was alright.  Walking around Munich trying to speak German.

I think I am cuter than anyone on the show, so here is a picture of me when I was in Munich in 2010.

Then Bryden just had to find Des and dump her that day.  Sorry but that was kind of funny.  It was clear he just wanted a free trip to Germany and was not interested in her anymore.  Way to go Bry.

My favorite part of the date was when Bryden was talking to Des and Chris was left with the pigeons.  the editing is just so funny.

Chris with his pigeon friends.

Also on this date the seasons private concert count has risen to 4.  I am pretty sure that that is more than any of the seasons put together.  Way to go!

Best Metaphor 

The Bachelorette is usually really great at giving the world terrible metaphors to use in life.  My favorite came from Zak W. As the guys and Des were sledding down a mountain he became reflective and decided that love is like sledding down a mountain.  I am not sure how he made the connection but more power to you.

I also loved Zak's confession that he was going to be a priest back in the day, but decided that it wasn't for him.  Maybe his former priestly ambitions are what made me like him instinctively.  He reminds me of my Biblical Studies friends from college.

The Couple that Dresses Alike

My favorite part of the show was how much the men started to resemble each other.  It has been said that couples start to resemble one another as their relationship progresses and these men are proving that to be true.

Look how cute they are in their Target hoodies!

They also captured the RayBan-Parka look perfectly. 

Juan Pablo

I just need to say what no one else is saying.  Why hasn't Des just run away with Juan Paulo?  I am not sure why I have not noticed him really before.  Maybe because the non-white guys are usually the first to go and I try not to get too attached.  But this former professional soccer player is cute!   We all know that these relationships never work out anyway so why not choose the hottie you will dump in a few months anyway.

Juan Paulo, even if you call yodeling, juggling,  I wouldn't care.

Brooks Will Win

I am pretty sure that ice caves are the new hot tubs.  It worked for Sean and Catherine and I am calling it now it worked for Brooks and Des.

Boo Ben

Last I just want to say that I am glad Boooo Ben is gone.  I totally knew he was a weirdo from the beginning.  As a Christian I hate it when people use the "Christian Card" as a reason why they are so great, moral, better than someone else.  And Ben used it like it was going out of style.  During his interview I think his true colors showed when he said he didn't know who they would choose as the next bachelor now, and he just wanted to get drunk and go out with girls.  Great witness brother.

Favorite Awkward Moments

As I was watching the show there were a couple of awkward moments that had nothing to do with the date.  I will end with these and wish you all well on your Tuesday.

While zooming in on the rose all I could see was pretzels!

I love the random person taking pictures of strangers in bathrobes.  Total Creeper.

love! Erica